Someone Else's Life Read Online Free PDF

way.
    Then she walked into a tree, fell over and broke her ankle. One of the teachers took her to hospital, and it was there that they noticed that she wasn’t drunk. That there was something else wrong, really wrong, with her. And her life changed forever.
    And so did mine.
    Andy’s bedroom door flies open.
    “I have got better things to do on Christmas Day than wait around for you, you know?” he snaps.
    “I bet,” I say, dropping the photo at his feet.
    He stares at it, surprised.
    “Rosie, I … It’s not what you think.”
    “Whatever.” I look away.
    “That was just a fling— ages ago—”
    “About eighteen months ago, in fact.”
    “Rosie …” He falters. “She’s not … We’re not … It didn’t mean anything.”
    “Whatever.” I swallow, try to move past him.
    “Rose—” He grabs my arm, his touch like ice.
    “Let me go.”
    “Rosie, I—”
    “Andy —”
    “What did you expect me to do?”
    I stop short, my breath stuck in my throat.
    “What did you expect me to do, Rose? Just wait around for eighteen months on the off chance that you might finally call? That we might get back together?”
    My throat is paralyzed.
    “Tell me, Rosie, what was I supposed to do?”
    “I don’t know,” I mumble helplessly. “I thought you loved me.”
    “I did,” Andy says sadly. “But you shut me out.” He snaps his fingers. “Just like that! I didn’t know why, you wouldn’t tell me, wouldn’t even answer your phone the fifty times I called to find out why you weren’t at the station like we’d arranged. I was standing there on the platform like an idiot, Rosie—I almost missed my train!”
    “But you didn’t,” I say quietly. “You left.”
    “Yes, I left. I was hurt, I was angry, and I’d used all my savings on a Eurail ticket that was about to go to waste. You wouldn’t tell me why you wouldn’t come, didn’t give me a reason to stay, you just sent me a text—a text —saying sorry, you couldn’t come anymore. No explanation, nothing!”
    I look away.
    “It’s a pretty shitty way to dump someone, Rose.”
    I stare at him. “I wasn’t dumping you! I just … had a lot to deal with. I couldn’t—”
    “Couldn’t talk to me about it? Couldn’t tell me?”
    “I couldn’t!” I protest. “Not then.”
    “Why?” he explodes. “What could be so terrible that you couldn’t tell me?”
    I struggle to breathe, even now it’s impossible to find words to describe the horrible uncertainty and confusion and terror of that awful, life-changing day when Mum was finally diagnosed.
    He sighs. “As if I don’t know.”
    “What?”
    He looks away. “It was pretty obvious, Rose. The timing … what happened … or didn’t …” He shuffles his feet, his cheeks coloring. “I’m sorry if I did something wrong, if I pushed you into nearly doing something you didn’t want to …”
    I stare at him, stunned.
    He looks at me, his eyes pained. “But you could’ve just talked to me, you know? I was happy to wait.”
    “What? No!” I protest, my own cheeks burning. He thinks I dumped him because of that night? “No—no, it wasn’t …” I take a deep breath, trying to get my words straight. “Andy, it wasn’t you, anything to do with you. It was Mum—”
    “Then why couldn’t you tell me that? Why couldn’t you call?”
    “I was at the hospital, my phone was off, I couldn’t.”
    “You could’ve if you’d tried, Rose. You could’ve called me, could’ve explained, could’ve let me know what was going on so I didn’t keep hoping  …”
    I stare at him, speechless.
    “Every city, every station—in Rome, in Athens, Barcelona—I prayed you’d changed your mind, that you’d be there waiting to explain, to join me for the rest of our trip, the adventure we’d planned for so long.” He shrugs. “But you didn’t come. You didn’t come, and it became obvious you never would.” He sighs. “I got tired of waiting for you.”
    “But you